Written by Seth Abramovitch | 14 May 2009, 1:00 PM

It’s entirely conceivable that you could enter a multiplex today and have a Clifton Collins Jr. marathon. Start things off on a sweet and low-key note with his role as Amy Adams’ one-armed love interest in Sunshine Cleaning, kick them up a notch with his turn as a psychopathic gangster in Crank 2: High Voltage, and then end it with a galactic bang, watching him kick some Starfleet ass as Romulan heavy Ayel in the blockbuster Star Trek reboot. The versatile and hotly in-demand actor has lots more coming up — including a ballsplosive turn in Mike Judge’s Extract — but he managed to carve out some time from his schedule to tell Movieline about how he never lets it get to his head.

Hey!
How are ya?

Doing fine, how are you?
Pretty fuckin’ sweet, man.

Tell me about your month.
My month’s been pretty wild, obviously with all the Star Trek hoopla. And then the stuff with Sunshine Cleaning was sweet. And even Crank 2, even though it didn’t make the numbers we wanted, certainly was a fun time.

You’ve been in a shitload of stuff this summer.
And I got several more coming out.

Well, congratulations!
Thank you, brother. I appreciate that.

You’re one of those amazing character actors who just gets totally gets lost in your roles. Was that always the plan? How do you feel about being that kind of performer?
I actually love it. Definitely the respect and admiration of my peers is certainly flattering. I’m a fourth generation entertainer. My great-grandfather was a contract player for John Wayne. And he couldn’t even read or write — he started performing when he was seven. He did all the roles that were available to him, and played the people he grew up with. Poor people, and cowboys and stuff. But for me, when … READ MORE